Sheffield City Council Early Years CPD Programme

This in-house coaching and mentoring offer supports EYFS and senior leaders to strengthen leadership practice in line with their early years priorities. Provision is bespoke, shaped around the needs of the leadership team, wider staff and setting context to ensure a focused and meaningful impact. Support can be delivered as a one-off session or as a tailored programme across the year, enabling leaders to reflect, trial approaches and embed sustainable improvement over time. Through a coaching-led approach, leaders engage in professional dialogue and guided reflection to explore key areas such as curriculum intent, quality of interactions, staff development and improvement planning. Flexible delivery may include leadership coaching, mentoring, learning walks, action planning and team-based support, aligned with the EYFS statutory framework and Ofsted expectations. Leaders will gain greater clarity, confidence and well-defined next steps to strengthen early years provision and outcomes.

Audience: School Leaders (EYFS / SLT)

Location: In-person- see below

Cost: Price on request from EarlyYearsBusinessSupport@sheffield.gov.uk dependent on chosen model following discussion

Training Team: Early Years Quality and Access Team

How to book: Email EarlyYearsBusinessSupport@sheffield.gov.uk.

Developed by expert Sheffield Speech and Language Therapists, the Play and Say programme is designed to universally support speech and language development in young children, with a particular focus on vocabulary building. Primarily targeted at children under five years of age the programme is particularly beneficial in supporting language development of 2-year-olds. The programme equips early years practitioners with practical, evidence-based strategies to promote communication skills within everyday interactions.

Programme Aims and Benefits:

• Foster effective language development strategies for use with all children in early years settings.
• Support the early identification of speech, language, and communication needs (SLCN).
• Assist with the 2-year progress check and integrated review processes, including moderation.
• Strengthen partnerships with parents by empowering them to use communication strategies at home, with access to additional resources such as the Curious Communicators programme.
• Provide engaging, enjoyable activities for children, parents, and practitioners alike, enhancing motivation and learning.

Audience: All early years practitioners, childminders, managers, teachers, teaching assistants, leaders, and schools with 2-year provision supporting children’s vocabulary and language development.

Cost: Free to Sheffield schools and settings

Training Team: Community Early Years Practitioners

Delivery and Support by request: The face-to-face delivery of the programme will be tailored to meet the needs of each individual setting. A package of support will be discussed and agreed between the setting and the Early Years Quality Team. This will include the setting working closely with the Community Early Years Practitioners, offering hands-on training, modelling, and tailored guidance. This ‘alongside’ approach ensures practitioners build confidence and competence in embedding Play and Say techniques seamlessly into daily practice.

How to book: email EarlyYearsBusinessSupport@sheffield.gov.uk to express interest in accessing the “Play and Say” -Speech, language and communication training and in setting support.

Pathway Overview:

This four-day training pathway supports early years practitioners to strengthen early mathematics provision through purposeful play, rich thinking opportunities and hands-on experiences. One dedicated session focuses on STEM/STEAM and Makerspaces, demonstrating how exploration, creativity and making can act as powerful drivers for developing early mathematical understanding.

Pathway Content:

Across four sessions, practitioners explore the key building blocks of early mathematics. This includes developing number sense and meaningful counting, understanding composition and early calculation through part–whole thinking, exploring shape, space and measure through real-life experiences, and using STEM/STEAM and Makerspaces to deepen mathematical thinking through making, problem-solving and exploration.

Pathway Sessions:

• Session 1 – Number Sense: Counting with Meaning
• Session 2 – Composition, Partitioning & Early Calculation
• Session 3 – Shape, Space and Measure through Real Experiences
• Session 4 – STEM/STEAM & Makerspaces: Maths through Making

Flexible and Progressive Approach:

Each full-day session can be booked as a standalone opportunity, allowing settings to focus on specific areas of practice. When attended as a full pathway, the sessions link to form a coherent and progressive maths development journey across number, calculation, space, measure and problem-solving, supporting sustained improvement across the whole setting.

Audience: Early Years Practitioners working with children aged 3-4yrs in a PVI setting, childminders and home-based early years practitioners.

Cost: Price on request from EarlyYearsBusinessSupport@sheffield.gov.uk dependent on chosen model following discussion

Training Team: Early Years Quality Improvement Team

How to book: Available as bespoke EY PVI Provider development days. Offered as stand-alone sessions or x4 part pathway. Email EarlyYearsBusinessSupport@sheffield.gov.uk for further information.

Pathway Overview:

This four-day training pathway supports PVI early years providers to strengthen early literacy through high-quality interactions, rich story experiences, playful sound awareness and purposeful mark-making. Rooted in everyday practice, the pathway develops confident practitioners who create language-rich environments where all children can engage, communicate and make meaning.

Pathway Content:

Across four sessions, practitioners explore the core building blocks of early literacy. This includes developing communication and language as the foundation of learning, creating engaging and inclusive story experiences to support comprehension and vocabulary, enabling purposeful mark-making and early writing, and building phonological awareness through playful sound exploration. Each session provides practical strategies that can be applied directly within provision.

Pathway Sessions:

• Session 1 – Communication & Language: The Foundations of Literacy
• Session 2 – Stories, Books & Comprehension: Building a Love of Reading
• Session 3 – Early Mark Making & Writing with Purpose
• Session 4 – Phonological Awareness & Sound Play

Flexible and Progressive Approach:

Each full-day session can be booked as a standalone opportunity, allowing settings to focus on specific areas of practice. When attended as a full pathway, the sessions link to form a coherent and progressive literacy development journey, supporting sustained improvement across communication, comprehension, writing and sound awareness within the whole setting.

Audience: Early Years Practitioners working with children aged 3-4yrs in a PVI setting, childminders and home-based early years practitioners.

Cost: Price on request from EarlyYearsBusinessSupport@sheffield.gov.uk dependent on chosen model following discussion

Training Team: Early Years Quality Improvement Team

How to book: Available as bespoke EY PVI Provider development days. Offered as stand-alone sessions or x4 part pathway. Email EarlyYearsBusinessSupport@sheffield.gov.uk for further information.

Behaviour Matters: Enhancing Self-Regulation through Relationship-Based Practice is a professional development programme designed to support early years settings in deepening their understanding of children’s behaviour. It explores how behaviour is shaped by early experiences, relationships, and the environments in which children learn and grow.

Offering a relational and reflective approach, the programme empowers practitioners to strengthen practice, promote self-regulation, and create nurturing, responsive environments for all children.

Through a blend of training, reflection and peer support, managers and practitioners can explore brain development, attachment and attunement, co-regulation, self-regulation, the PACE approach (Playfulness, Acceptance, Curiosity and Empathy)

The programme strengthens practice in line with the EYFS, particularly in supporting Personal, Social and Emotional Development, secure key person relationships, and creating enabling environments where children feel safe, valued and able to learn. It also supports settings to evidence strong practice across Ofsted’s Education Inspection Framework, including Behaviour and Attitudes, Personal Development (health and wellbeing), and Quality of Education, by promoting consistent, relationship-based approaches that build children’s confidence, resilience and self-regulation.

Choose 1 or more elements of the programme below to be delivered in a bespoke and flexible way, tailored to ensure practical application within each setting, following a team approach therefore leading to meaningful and sustainable improvements.

Pathway Sessions:

• Session 1 – Nurturing Connections: The Key Person Role in Attachment, Attunement and Meaningful Relationships
• Session 2 – Supporting Children Through an Emotionally Enabling Environment
• Session 3 – From Co-Regulation to Self-Regulation
• Session 4 – Using the PACE Approach to Build Relationships and Emotional Connections

Audience: Managers from PVI settings, childminders and home-based early years practitioners

Cost: Price on request from EarlyYearsBusinessSupport@sheffield.gov.uk dependent on chosen model following discussion

Training Team: Early Years Quality Improvement Team

How to book: Available as bespoke EY PVI Provider development days. Offered as stand-alone sessions or x4 part pathway. Email EarlyYearsBusinessSupport@sheffield.gov.uk for further information.

‘Purposeful Learning Walks’ is an in-house training offer supporting Early Years leaders, managers and SLT to confidently evaluate and articulate the quality of education within their setting. Aligned with the Ofsted framework, the training strengthens leaders’ understanding of how curriculum intent, implementation and environment work together to secure strong outcomes for all children.

Through structured learning walks, participants explore inclusive and ambitious practice, considering how children are supported to know more, remember more and do more over time.

Using the Early Years Foundation Stage overarching principles as a lens, leaders reflect on the impact of the unique child, enabling environments and high-quality interactions.

Leaders develop skills in gathering meaningful evidence, engaging in professional dialogue and identifying priorities for continuous improvement, enabling them to confidently demonstrate impact, inclusion and ambition.

Audience: EYFS leaders, members of SLT and managers within a school or PVI setting.

Cost: 1 Token or Pay as you go price on request from EarlyYearsBusinessSupport@sheffield.gov.uk

Training Team: Early Years Quality and Access Team

How to book: Email EarlyYearsBusinessSupport@sheffield.gov.uk

High quality interactions are central to the Early Years Foundation Stage and Ofsted’s expectations for effective early years practice. This in house training supports practitioners to strengthen the role of the adult as a skilled, responsive communicator who extends learning through everyday interactions.

Using a coaching approach and drawing on research informed practice, participants explore how sustained shared thinking, language rich environments and purposeful adult responses support children’s communication and learning.

The delivery model is flexible and tailored to the needs of the school or setting, ensuring practical impact and clear next steps for improving consistency, confidence and outcomes.

Audience: All early years practitioners, childminders, managers, teachers, teaching assistants, year 1 teachers and leaders.

Cost: 1 Token or Pay as you go price on request from EarlyYearsBusinessSupport@sheffield.gov.uk

Training Team: Early Years Quality and Access Team

How to book: Email EarlyYearsBusinessSupport@sheffield.gov.uk

It is vital that all levels of leadership can explain effectively the content of the curriculum being taught in EYFS. Are your subject leads confident in their knowledge of how children ‘gain the necessary foundations for the rest of their schooling’?

This in house, bespoke training will support foundation subject leads in their understanding of the main principles of the Early Years Foundation Stage, exploring how this is the very start of the child’s curriculum journey within the school and how this early development leads on to further progress as children move into Year 1 and into the Key Stage 1 curriculum.

There will be reference to all Key Stage 1 ‘subjects’ and how these may look and feel in the Foundation Stage.

Schools have found it beneficial for EYFS leads and/ or members of SLT to accompany curriculum leads to collectively hear key messages and share thoughts around subject leadership and the EYFS.

Delivery models of this training can be discussed upon booking and will be dependent on capacity of the Quality and Access Team.

Audience: School staff leading National Curriculum areas wishing to further their understanding of how their subject ‘fits’ into the EYFS Framework.

Cost: 2 Tokens or Pay as you go price on request from EarlyYearsBusinessSupport@sheffield.gov.uk

Training Team: Early Years Quality and Access Team

How to book: Email EarlyYearsBusinessSupport@sheffield.gov.uk

This bespoke half-day session is designed to support your setting in developing a deeper understanding of early mathematics across the Early Years Foundation Stage. Moving beyond the view that maths is solely about number, the training will explore the full breadth of mathematical learning and how it is embedded in your everyday practice.

Rooted in the Early Years Foundation Stage Statutory Framework, the session will focus on how children experience maths naturally through play, routines, and interactions—developing their understanding of pattern, shape, space, measure, comparison, and problem-solving, alongside number. Using examples from your own environment and provision, practitioners will reflect on how mathematical opportunities can be strengthened and made more explicit.

The session will be adapted to your setting’s context, allowing practitioners to consider how maths is currently developing within both indoor and outdoor spaces. Together, we will identify opportunities to enhance provision, ensuring children can explore mathematical concepts in meaningful and engaging ways. There will be a strong emphasis on the role of the adult in noticing and responding to teachable moments, modelling rich mathematical language, and supporting children to make connections.

Aligned with EYFS expectations, the training will support your team to:

• Develop a shared understanding of maths beyond number
• Recognise how mathematical learning is embedded across your daily routines and provision
• Identify strengths and areas for development within your current environment
• Explore practical strategies to enhance mathematical thinking through play and interaction
• Build confidence in promoting reasoning, problem-solving, and deeper understanding

By the end of the session, your team will have a clearer, shared vision of what effective early maths looks like in order to develop children’s confidence within your setting, along with practical, achievable next steps to ensure maths is visible, meaningful, and celebrated throughout children’s daily experiences.

Audience: All early years practitioners, childminders, home-based early years practitioners, managers, teachers, teaching assistants, year 1 teachers, maths leads, senior leaders

Cost: 1 Token or Pay as you go price on request from EarlyYearsBusinessSupport@sheffield.gov.uk

Training Team: Early Years Quality and Access Team

How to book: Email EarlyYearsBusinessSupport@sheffield.gov.uk

Making the Most of Your Outdoor Environment is a bespoke, in-house development visit designed to work alongside Early Years leaders and practitioners to review, refine and strengthen outdoor learning provision.

The visit is practical, collaborative and rooted in everyday practice, supporting settings to make immediate and meaningful improvements.

A planning call takes place in advance to explore your setting’s context, priorities and children’s needs. The day focuses on transforming outdoor spaces from areas children simply access into purposeful environments for learning, movement, exploration and shared experiences.

The development visit supports practitioners to:

• Review outdoor provision through the lens of physical development and wellbeing
• Plan and trial experiences that support vestibular and proprioceptive development, balance and body awareness
• Strengthen upper body and core strength, supporting postural control and handwriting readiness
• Use large-scale, open-ended resources (such as crates, planks, tyres and den building materials) to promote climbing, pushing, pulling, lifting and carrying, while also developing communication, collaboration, creativity and problem solving
• Reflect on how open-ended provision enables child led learning, sustained play and meaningful cooperation
• Consider inclusion, ensuring outdoor provision offers appropriate challenge and equitable access for all children

A key focus of the day is maximising what you already have. Practitioners explore how to source, repurpose and creatively use low cost, readily available materials without reducing ambition or impact.

Grounded in the EYFS Overarching Principles, the visit supports reflective discussion around:

• The Unique Child and individual physical development needs
• The outdoor area as an Enabling Environment
• The role of Positive Relationships through shared and cooperative play
• How outdoor learning contributes meaningfully to Learning and Development

The visit concludes with clear, practical next steps, supporting leaders and practitioners to confidently strengthen outdoor provision and demonstrate its impact on children’s physical development, wellbeing and learning behaviours.

Audience: All early years settings

Cost: 2 Tokens or Pay as you go price on request from EarlyYearsBusinessSupport@sheffield.gov.uk

Training Team: Early Years Quality and Access Team

How to book: Email EarlyYearsBusinessSupport@sheffield.gov.uk

A clear and coherent curriculum intent is central to high quality early years practice and a key focus of the EYFS and Ofsted inspection framework. This half day coaching session supports practitioners and leaders to develop a shared understanding of their curriculum intent—what they want children to learn, why it matters, and how it is realised through everyday practice.

Using a coaching approach, the session fosters reflective discussion around children’s needs, progression, and the role of play, interactions, and environments in bringing curriculum intent to life. Practitioners develop greater confidence in understanding how intent connects meaningfully to implementation and impact, ensuring learning is purposeful, inclusive, and responsive, while enabling them to clearly articulate and discuss their curriculum with others.

The delivery model is flexible and can be adapted to the context and priorities of the setting, supporting teams to strengthen confidence, consistency and clarity in their early years curriculum.

Audience: All early years practitioners, childminders, managers, teachers, senior leaders

Cost: 1 Token or Pay as you go price on request from EarlyYearsBusinessSupport@sheffield.gov.uk

Training Team: Early Years Quality and Access Team

How to book: Email EarlyYearsBusinessSupport@sheffield.gov.uk

A strong sense of belonging is fundamental to children’s wellbeing, behaviour, personal development and capacity to learn. This in house support visit enables EYFS teachers and leaders to reflect on how effectively their setting creates the conditions for all children to feel safe, valued, included and ready to learn, in line with Ofsted expectations.

Through professional dialogue, practical examples and shared reflection, the bespoke support session explores how belonging is promoted through everyday practice, including relationships, routines, curriculum intent and implementation, the learning environment and inclusive leadership. Colleagues will consider how children experience being welcomed, respected and represented, and how this contributes to emotional security, positive attitudes, engagement and achievement.

A key feature of the session is a Belonging Audit, enabling teams to:

• evaluate current practice across environment, relationships, interactions, curriculum and professional culture, using Ofsted aligned reflection prompts
• identify strengths and areas for development that impact on children’s behaviour, confidence and learning
• consider the experiences of different groups of children and families, including those who may be less visible or more vulnerable
• agree clear, realistic next steps that support continuous improvement and strengthen outcomes for children

The session is reflective, practical and adaptable to your context. It supports shared understanding, consistency of practice and collective responsibility, enabling leaders and practitioners to articulate how a strong sense of belonging is embedded in daily provision and how it positively impacts children’s experiences and outcomes.

THIS AUDIT IS ALSO PART OF THE NURTURING RELATIONSHIPS IN THE EYFS TRAINING (Option 2).

Audience: All early years practitioners, childminders, managers, teachers, senior leaders

Cost: 2 Tokens or Pay as you go price on request from EarlyYearsBusinessSupport@sheffield.gov.uk

Training Team: Early Years Quality and Access Team

How to book: Email EarlyYearsBusinessSupport@sheffield.gov.uk

Our in-house training and tailored support offer is designed specifically for school-based EYFS teams, providing a practical, confidence-building approach to meeting statutory requirements for staff supervision. The programme supports EYFS leaders to establish and embed effective supervision systems that promote strong safeguarding practice, staff wellbeing and ongoing professional development within the school context. Through in house coaching sessions, practical examples and personalised guidance, leaders are supported to ensure supervision is purposeful, compliant and integrated into day-to-day practice. By strengthening leadership understanding and implementation, this offer supports the development of a reflective EYFS team, enhances the quality of provision and contributes to improved outcomes for children in the early years.

The delivery model is flexible and tailored to the needs of the school, ensuring practical impact and clear next steps for improving consistency, confidence and outcomes. Support can be delivered as a one-off session or as a tailored programme across the year, enabling leaders to reflect, trial approaches and embed sustainable improvement over time.

Audience: School Leaders (SLT, EYFS Leads)

Cost: Price on request from EarlyYearsBusinessSupport@sheffield.gov.uk dependent on chosen model following discussion

Training Team: Early Years Quality and Access Team

How to book: Email EarlyYearsBusinessSupport@sheffield.gov.uk

This spotlight session is designed to support practitioners to reflect on, not just what, but how children learn. The Characteristics of Effective Teaching and Learning are central to the EYFS and focus on the processes of children’s learning, children’s thinking, and their attitudes to learning, rather than outcomes alone.

Research shows that possessing these learning behaviours drastically improves children’s outcomes, as they underpin all other areas of development.

Understanding that children are naturally motivated to learn, is at the heart of this spotlight session, and our role is to create the conditions where that motivation can thrive through supportive relationships, enabling environments, and skilled interactions.

By the end of the session, we aim for you to feel inspired, confident, and equipped to lead and embed effective teaching and learning approaches that will support children to become resilient, curious, independent, resourceful, and adaptable lifelong learners.

Audience: All early years practitioners and professionals working with early years children

Cost: Available on request, dependent on whether online or in person and the time they are requested for delivery.

Training Team: Early Years Quality Improvement Team

How to book: Spotlight sessions are approx. 45mins-1hr long and are available as online bespoke to your setting 4.30pm-5.30pm, or face to face if part of a development day. To enquire please email EarlyYearsBusinessSupport@sheffield.gov.uk

This spotlight session is designed to support practitioners to reflect on the benefits of loose parts play. This informative 1-hour session showcases aspects of Loose Parts theory, and the value of open-ended play opportunities for young children, linking learning and development outcomes with the EYFS.

Research shows that open-ended, loose parts play, where children use both natural and man-made resources and materials such as sticks, boxes, and blocks, promotes advanced cognitive and social development. It actively drives creativity, problem-solving, and spontaneous STEM skills, while allowing children to take safe risks and collaborate with their peers.

By the end of the session, we aim for you to feel inspired, confident, and equipped to offer boundless possibilities and opportunities which engage, challenge and support children’s autonomy and creativity through adventurous play.

Feedback from practitioners:

• I can see how I can develop our outdoor area to include exciting loose parts and provide opportunities for safe and risky play
• I look forward to sourcing lots of loose parts, and I can really involve parents too

Audience: All early years practitioners and professionals working with early years children

Cost: Available on request, dependent on whether online or in person and the time they are requested for delivery.

Training Team: Early Years Quality Improvement Team

How to book: Spotlight sessions are approx. 45mins-1hr long and are available as online bespoke to your setting 4.30pm-5.30pm, or face to face if part of a development day. To enquire please email EarlyYearsBusinessSupport@sheffield.gov.uk

This spotlight looks at schema, recognising that children build understanding through repeated patterns of behaviour, such examples include transporting, rotating, enclosing, or connecting and many more. Rather than seeing these actions as random or repetitive play, schema-informed practice views them as purposeful ways young children explore and make sense of the world.

This spotlight aims to help practitioners identify these patterns and plan environments and interactions that support them. By tuning into these interests and patterns of behaviour, practitioners can extend learning more effectively, linking play to areas such as mathematical thinking, problem-solving, and language development.

Embedding schema awareness supports more inclusive, child-led provision. It encourages adults to observe carefully, interpret behaviour as learning, and respond with rich, open-ended experiences rather than redirecting play. This approach aligns closely with EYFS principles of characteristics of teaching and learning, promoting engagement, and fostering deeper levels of thinking through sustained shared experiences.

By the end of the session practitioners will understand schema and how it can strengthen practitioners’ ability to personalise learning, support sustained engagement, and recognise the underlying cognitive processes that drive early development.

Audience: All early years practitioners and professionals working with early years children

Cost: Available on request, dependent on whether online or in person and the time they are requested for delivery.

Training Team: Early Years Quality Improvement Team

How to book: Spotlight sessions are approx. 45mins-1hr long and are available as online bespoke to your setting 4.30pm-5.30pm, or face to face if part of a development day. To enquire please email EarlyYearsBusinessSupport@sheffield.gov.uk

Effective communicative interactions are fundamental in the early years, underpinning children’s language development, thinking and social competence. This training supports practitioners to understand the vital role of the adult as a responsive, reflective communication partner—one who models language, listens attentively, and intentionally extends children’s learning through interaction.

Participants will explore practical strategies to enhance both verbal and non verbal communication, create language rich environments, and meet a wide range of communication needs. Drawing on pedagogical approaches and expert insights, including the ShREC approach and Sustained Shared Thinking, practitioners will develop confidence in knowing when to observe, when to join, and how to scaffold conversations that deepen understanding and expression.

Join us to strengthen your settings communicative practice, build meaningful connections with children, and make a lasting impact on early language, thinking and social development by accessing this in house bespoke training.

“Very helpful and safe space”
“It made me think about high quality interactions within our setting”
“Encouraged me to think about how I will engage and provide rich language experiences for my children”

Audience: All early years practitioners, childminders, managers, teachers, teaching assistants, year 1 teachers

Cost: 1 Token or Pay as you go price on request from EarlyYearsBusinessSupport@sheffield.gov.uk

Training Team: Early Years Quality and Access Team

How to book: email EarlyYearsBusinessSupport@sheffield.gov.uk

This bespoke session explores how strong foundations for writing are established in the Early Years. Grounded in the EYFS Statutory Framework and aligned with Ofsted’s focus on high-quality curriculum, teaching and learning, it draws on a secure understanding of child development.

The session will support practitioners in their consideration of how writing develops progressively through physical, cognitive, language and social-emotional stages, rather than as a discrete skill taught in isolation.

There will be an opportunity to explore the key building blocks of successful writers in your setting, with reference to communication and language development, fine and gross motor control, sensory experiences, early mark making, phonological awareness, vocabulary development and children’s motivation and confidence to write.

Practitioners will reflect on how a logically sequenced approach to writing supports developmentally appropriate progression from early mark making to confident, purposeful writing. Emphasis will be placed on ensuring writing opportunities are meaningful, inclusive and embedded across provision, enabling all children to develop the physical readiness, language skills and self-belief needed to become successful writers, and to meet the expectations of the EYFS within an Ofsted-aligned curriculum.

Audience: All early years practitioners, childminders, home-based early years practitioners, managers, teachers, teaching assistants, year 1 teachers, literacy leads, senior leaders

Cost: 1 Token or Pay as you go price on request from EarlyYearsBusinessSupport@sheffield.gov.uk

Training Team: Early Years Quality and Access Team

How to book: email EarlyYearsBusinessSupport@sheffield.gov.uk